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Comment by blakesterz | Hacker News Reader

I guess it's like any other collectable, just way WAY more expensive. Though I'm not sure what's lost by wearing it?

  "Such market conditions have presented a dilemma for collectors who actually want to show off their popular models, knowing the message that will send to other connoisseurs. “If you wear them, you’re an idiot, ” says one collector. “Either you paid five times retail, or you bought it retail and you’re too stupid to have flipped it.”"

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"too stupid to have flipped it"

What a time to be alive when you're called stupid for not being a greedy "playa" flipper.

Maybe some folks who waited on a waiting list for a couple years want to wear a watch they purchased in good health?

Again like you said, the reason not to wear is nothing specific to watches. At the high end of collectibles markets, condition grading is extremely fine and detailed. A knowledgeable person can see the difference between something that has never left the box and something that was used/worn once. Additionally, there's often a substantial value difference between a #1 condition item and a #2 condition item. As the participants in any collector market become more sophisticated, condition difference between individual items becomes both more legible (as grading methods are created) and has a greater effect on value (as the market expands).

There's also a sort of status game being described in the part you quoted. Self-identified collectors/dealers intentionally don't wear their collection in order to signal their understanding of the watches' value and therefore their own knowledge as connoisseurs.

You're risking damage, you're risking theft, you're paying higher insurance premiums in either case, etc, etc.

Damage isn’t a huge problem, watches tend to be pretty sturdy and mere scratches aren’t going to hurt resale value in most cases (unless you have them repaired!)

Theft on the other hand is a pretty big concern, I just had a 100k patek ripped off my wrist. I’m very lucky though, the local store manager was sympathetic and managed to help me skip the queue for a (slightly more desirable) replacement, effectively nullifying any financial damage.

Lesson learned, not walking around with uninsured watches no matter how nice the area is. Insurance premiums aren’t too bad though.

Insurance on a $100K watch through Hodinkee is around $1400 a year, although I'm sure you can get a better deal.

If you're an enthusiast then you're paying for peace of mind. If you're an investor then that's the equivalent of a 1.4% management fee per year.

The price action right now is absolutely ridiculous, but if you already bought at say 5x retail then that dramatically eats into your potential profits. It's just not worth it, you shove it into a safe and never let it see the light of day.

If you just want to invest or collect you can get cheaper insurance with clauses about keeping the watches in a safe deposit box.

You can find waay more attractive premiums through traditional insurance brokers than via Hodinkee, but depending on the size of your collection it might not be worth the hassle as finding a decent traditional option is a headache unless you know someone who’s already gone through the trouble.

> effectively nullifying any financial damage.

Aren't you out the 100k?

They went on to buy a 130k market value watch for 30k (retail) or something

Ah I see, I misread the 100k as retail (for both).

Yeah, exactly.

Oh, and let me guess, the collector would happily take the watch off their hands? Who's the idiot?

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